Who said they should be closed down? Alcohol is heavily taxed in this country, that is why a case of beer though locally produced costs $40 plus. The same should be done to fast food, tax it heavily to pay for the social ills it costs.

Great, just what we need .... more fast food restaurants so our obese population can become more morbidly obese and become an even greater burden on our public health system. It is high time that a significant tax be levied on all fast food in this country. Why should these owners reap profits while creating social ills and expense for tax payers? Increase vat on fast food to 15% and use the revenue to subsidize Healthcare or to reduce the cost of healthy foods like vegetables that are too expensive for the poor.

Emera has not been an honest corporate citizen in its treatment of Bahamian minority shareholders, which is only being accentuated by this proposed buyout. It is disingenuous at best but more accurately described as a blatant lie on the part of Mr. Collins to say that the purpose of the buyout is to streamline GB power’s coporate structure, for if this was the case Emera would simply dissolve ICD and issue shares directly in GB Power as Fred Smith suggest. No, the purpose of the buyout is to obtain all the remaining shares at subpar rate, to disenfranchise Bahamian shareholders, as Emera knows better than anyone that they are worth far more than $8.85. A secondary purpose of the buyout is by taking the company private there will be no more reporting or transparency, an extremely dangerous prospect for consumers purchasing electricity from a monopoly.
Mr. Anthony Ferguson, who is being rewarded handsomely by Emera in this transaction is hardly an impartial expert, indeed I use that term expert loosely as his encouragement to opt for BDRs taxable at a 25% rate is questionable. Also he is flat wrong in saying no dividends have been paid in seven years. Dividends have been paid for several years ( tax free I might add), but far less than they should be given the monopolies’ regulated profit. Emera drastically suppressed dividends due to Bahamian shareholders, using the proceeds to pay down debt. Now they want to buyout the company, benefiting from all the paid for equity obtained by disenfranching Bahamian shareholders all these years. It is disgusting. The govt should force Emera to substantially increase its buyout offer to truly reflect what these shares are worth or mandate that Emera reduce its ownership to 51% and let Bahamians benefit from GBPC.

Absolutely unbelievable. Minister Symonette should resign and absent this the Prime Minister should fire him for incompetence. If this man was deported over two weeks ago how can he say publicly “Now, we do not normally deport these people, that is why this case is interesting and I will be disappointed if that is what happened.”

How as minister does he STILL not know what happened to this man and where he is? Heads need to roll, someone has to be held accountable for this incompetence. Otherwise nothing will ever improve with no accountability.

Which bank do you deal with now? I agree these fees are ridiculous and we should boycott.

The dept of Immigration is a rogue dept. onto itself. It seems miraculously to operate outside the laws of the Bahamas. I think it is more out of ignorance more than maliciousness, my limited experience with them makes me wonder if these officers have undergone any training at all, perhaps not even graduated from high school. What are the minimum academic standards for these officers, have they been educated as to the constitutional rights of Bahamians? It really is pathetic and dangerous to give such power to a mass of apparently extremely ignorant people.

I ask the Tribune to interview minister Symonette and put him on record regarding the basic rights of Bahamians and all persons regarding their interactions with this rogue department. It is unacceptable in a modern, supposedly civil and democratic society. How hard would it have been to have at least one intelligent, educated, competent supervisor address this situation in a civil and constitutional manner?

Tal is “ some kinds wooden looking types subversives” a euphemism for Fred Mitchell :) ?

The solution to this problem is very simple though never tried. Simply enforce the law. I am all for deporting illegal immigrants but do it in the proper way. Whoever harbors illegal immigrants should be charged. Who hires these illegals.... Bahamians. I for one have never hired a Haitian legal or otherwise, can you say the same? Yet we have govt after govt who refuses to enforce the law and charge Bahamians who hire illegals. So Fred Smith is not the problem, the problem are Bahamians who hire illegals and a corrupt, lazy, inept govt that refuses to enforce the law.

Dearest Tal unfortunately they know English better than you!

We are indebted to Mr. Smith for advocating for basic human rights when our government seems all to ready to trample over them. Bahamians better stand up and demand their rights before goverernments take them away. These roadblocks are illegal and no one without good cause can question me about my citizenship. The dept. of Immigration acts like a law onto itself.
I had an experience where a group of immigration officiers were standing by the side of the road, I paused in traffic and one off these hoodlums they have working there tried to open my rear door and sit in the backseat of my car, thankfully traffic had moved and I hit the gas leaving him with his arm outstretched standing in the middle of the road. He never identified himself, or asked me anything, just tried to jump into my car. As a Bahamian I find these actions unacceptable and shameful and illegal. Please train these people and stop infringing on the rights of Bahamians. Follow the law and respect our rights. Bahamians better wake up or soon they will be traveling with their passports in their back pocket in their own country.